Abstract
When a photon with well-defined polarization and momentum passes through a focusing device, these properties are no longer well defined. Their loss is captured by describing polarization by a 3 x 3 effective density matrix. Here we show that the effective density matrix corresponds to the actual photodetection model and we provide a simple formula to calculate it in terms of classical fields. Moreover, we explore several possible experimental consequences of the 'longitudinal' term: limits on single-photon detection efficiency, polarization-dependent atomic transitions rates and the implications on quantum information processing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1177-1188 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Modern Optics |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 May 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |